Never Count The Stars
by flowerslut
Summary: Because some things are better left forgotten. SasuSaku. Sequel to Changing Skies. Rated M for future content.
1. Chapter 1

_The kunai felt far too heavy in her hands, the hard metal cold against her skin. She tried hard to keep her hands steady, she truly did, but she knew that her hesitation would become apparent one way or another if she wasn't careful._

 _The red-haired woman before her continued to struggle for breath, sucking in air desperately through bloodied lips into damaged lungs. Sakura knew that whoever this was didn't have long before she died—the medic in her was screaming like a madwoman—she had to help this girl and quickly._

 _The hairs on the back of her neck rose as Sasuke walked behind her and out of sight, a shiver of uneasiness coursed through her. She had to act fast; she had to act now._

 _But it happened too quickly for her to fully react properly._

 _She gripped the kunai tightly in her hands, mind made up, but before she could turn the kunai on Sasuke the air suddenly felt dry. Hot static gathered around her and when a spark ignited behind her back—the sound almost concealed by the dying woman's plea, "Sasuke, don't do it"—she only had enough time to turn her head before she saw him._

 _The blacks of his eyes were cold and hollow as he thrusted his chidori-laced hand toward her, aiming toward her head with no hesitation. It was an aim to kill, she knew without a doubt, and with the speed of his attack it was unlikely she would be able to dodge in time._

 _Sasuke was going to kill her._

 _Just as the thought flitted through her mind and before she could brace herself for the impact, everything went black._

.

.

.

She woke up with a gasp, her hands flying upward to firmly grip her throat.

 _Breathe,_ she commanded of herself, _breathe, now._

Her breaths came quickly afterward in sharp, hurried pants as she struggled to take in as much air as she could. Eyes darting around, she wanted to cry in relief when she recognized the hospital bed she was lying in. The sun was shining brightly through the blinds in her hospital room and she could tell that there was an incredibly nice day just waiting for her on the other side of the window.

She was home, in Konoha, in the hospital.

Lowering herself back down so that she was resting comfortably, she continued to focus on her breathing. In and out. In and out. She was home. She was in Konoha. She was _safe_.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she desperately tried to soothe herself. But as she closed her eyelids shut the only image she could find waiting for her was of Sasuke.

Sharingan red and bleeding as he aimed his chidori straight at her head.

Opening her eyes back up quickly she attempted to swallow the heavy lump in her throat but to no avail. Lifting her hands once more she ran her fingertips across her cheeks, letting them flutter over her entire face before sinking and running over the entirety of her neck and chest.

She was fine. Uninjured and without scars. Perhaps Sasuke had missed.

Head pounding tightly she placed her fingers at her temples and began to massage the muscles. She didn't remember. She needed to remember. _Something_ must've happened in order for her to be alive right now. In all honestly she should be dead right now; something had undoubtedly happened. There was no way she would've been able to survive that attack.

And at that thought, the tears that she'd been holding back finally fell freely.

It was true. Sasuke had tried to kill her. Genuinely and without hesitation.

Just picturing the empty, awful look in his eyes as he thrusted his arm out toward her made a sob slip past her lips. That hadn't been her Sasuke-kun.

He was gone.

And she didn't understand.

Although it didn't matter if she did or didn't, the truth remained the same: _Sasuke had tried to kill her._

Weakly, she placed her hands against her face, as if hiding the pain—the pain that was so evident just by looking at her—from the outside world. And with her head in her hands all she could do was cry.

The hole in her chest that used to merely ache at the thought of him was now saturated with a sharp, piercing burn, swallowing her heart whole and making breathing difficult. So engulfed with her grief, she began to cough, her sobs coming out as sad, pitiful noises with every croak.

When the door opened and she felt footsteps rush up to her bedside, she rubbed the tears from her eyes, not wanting anyone to see her in this state. She hoped it was Naruto or Kakashi. Maybe even her parents or Ino. Someone who could comfort her without judgement. Someone who could tell her what had happened, and why she was still alive.

When she wiped the moisture from her face and dared to look up at whoever was leaning over her in bed, she couldn't contain the bloodcurdling scream that ripped itself out of her throat.

Staring back at her was none other than Uchiha Sasuke himself.

In the same second it took her to inhale a sharp gasp, she'd reached out to her side and grabbed an IV pole with one hand, and ripped one of the metal bars from the side of the bed with her other. In the next second she'd swung the pole at him, successfully striking him right where his shoulder met his neck.

Not letting her shock over the fact that she's actually struck him take over, she lifted her legs and shifted them towards him, before using his chest as a spring board to launch herself across the room. Landing clumsily, the pole and bar still in each of her hands, she braced her back against the wall and inhaled deeply.

"Sakura! What—"

" _HELP!_ " The shout was so loud that it was deafening even to her own ears, leaving her throat feeling raw and strained. " _SOMEBODY! HELP!"_

The sound of his voice sent shivers through her. As she stared at him through tear-filled eyes, nearly shaking out of fear, she could only feel her adrenaline surge, seeing him on the ground sitting where he'd landed after Sakura had kicked him to launch herself away.

As she gathered breath to release another scream, a pair of medical ninja that she didn't recognize flew through the door, eyes wide and stances defensive. Sakura had no idea who these people were; where were the regularly staffed medics? Who were these people? She _was_ in Konoha, wasn't she? The unfamiliar faces caused her panic to increase tenfold.

"Sakura-san," one of the medics approached her briskly, their brow furrowed. "What's the matter? Are you—"

Before they could reach her, Sakura turned around as quickly as possible and, without hesitation, smashed through the window. Jumping onto the roof, she immediately abandoned the IV pole, choosing to hold onto the much sturdier metal bar from the hospital bed. If it came down to it, she was sure she could use it successfully as a weapon, even breaking it into pieces to use as makeshift kunai if she needed to.

She felt him before she saw him, but when Sasuke jumped out of the window after her, she began to run before he even hit the roof of the hospital.

Escape was the only thought running through her mind as she sprinted over rooftops and between buildings. This clearly wasn't Konoha; it was far too developed, the buildings tall and plentiful. She was sure this village had maybe five times the population that Konoha had, possibly more.

Jumping to another rooftop, her foot landed on a slick patch of tiles, causing her to stumble forward. But before she could fall, someone was in front of her, arms holding her up. Immediately she knew it was Sasuke; the long-sleeved, dark shirt in front of her eyes and the black hair she could see in her periphery confirmed it.

Swinging her 'weapon' swiftly, Sakura attempted to hit him behind his knees with it, hoping to set him off balance. But he swiftly blocked the attack, shifting to the side and grabbing the bar with a hand, quickly ripping it from her grip.

At the feeling of being disarmed, Sakura couldn't help but scream, her terror seizing her.

This was it, he was going to kill her. He hadn't succeeded before for some reason, but here he was now, about to finish the job.

"Let me _go_!" She screeched, pushing against him desperately. She was too overwhelmed and hysterical to even think straight.

"Sakura!" He shouted at her, "stop! What are you doing? Look at me. Sakura, _look at me_."

"Get _off of me_!" She wailed, suddenly overcome with frenzied sobs, shaking her body and freezing her legs up completely. "Get away from me! Naruto!" She screamed, "Kakashi-sensei! Somebody! _Help me_!"

He tensed as she screamed for help, but he didn't relinquish his hold on her. Nausea suddenly began to build up within her, and immediately she thought she was going to vomit or pass out. All she wanted was for him to let her go. To go away. To leave her alone and to not hurt her.

"Please," she sobbed as she struggled against him in vain, "please don't kill me."

"Sakura-chan!"

Finally, with one final shove, she was able to knock Sasuke away from her, long enough for her to run blindly into Naruto's arms. Thank god, he was here, which meant she was safe. Naruto would protect her from him.

But instead of shoving her behind him or holding her tightly and uttering reassuring words, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her firmly.

"Sakura-chan, what's going on? What happened? Calm down, okay?"

"Get me out of here!" She screeched, her mind screaming an entirely different set of words. _Don't you see? Don't you see that Sasuke-kun is here? He tried to kill me, Naruto. He tried to_ kill _me! Help me! Don't let him kill me!_

"What? Why? Sakura-chan," he shook her a bit more firmly this time, "look at me. _Sakura_!"

Lifting her head, blinking back her tears, she jumped upon sight of him. Why was he so tall? When had he gotten his hair cut? And god, he looked so _tired_. What had happened between the time she'd lost consciousness and now? And where _were_ they?

"Where are we?" her voice was hurried, the nausea becoming increasingly more difficult to disregard.

"We're in Konoha, Sakura. You're home. You're safe. Just breathe, you're okay—"

"NO!" She shouted, grabbing his arm and attempting to pull him away from Sasuke. "Do you not see? Sasuke-kun is right there!" The tears were building up again, and her throat was incredibly sore as she forced more frantic words out. "He's trying to kill me! I—I need to get out of here…"

Once it was clear that Naruto wasn't going to help her, she turned and tried to run, knowing that she couldn't afford to clear up Naruto's confusion when the man who was trying to kill her was literally steps away.

But Naruto instead caught her arm and yanked her toward him. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly, her back pressed against his chest. She struggled frantically, but found herself unable to move at all.

Why was Naruto stopping her? Were he and Sasuke working together? What the _hell_ had happened while she was unconscious?!

This was a nightmare. That was the only explanation that made sense. This had to be a nightmare. Probably the worst one she'd ever had.

"Let go of me, Naruto! I have to get home! I have to get back to Konoha. Don't—don't you dare let him touch me! Why are you helping him?! What—"

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled into her ear, so loud that it left a faint ringing noise echoing in the back of her head. "We are in Konoha! Look!"

He immediately turned her to the left slightly, allowing her to get a good look of the Hokage mountain.

She gasped.

Right next to Tsunade-sama's face was Naruto's, carved proudly into the rock, overlooking the village alongside all the other Hokage.

"This is a dream," she choked out in realization. The confirmed fact allowed a slight pang of relief to subdue her, but her fear was still as potent as ever. Even though she knew it was a nightmare didn't make it any less scary. "This is a dream."

"You aren't dreaming, Sakura," Sasuke spoke slowly as he stepped into her line of sight. She couldn't hold in her gasp as she leaned further into Naruto, wanting to be far, far away in that moment. "You're okay. You're home. You're safe."

"How can I be safe if you're around?" she spat, her voice full of venom. Knowing she was in a dream and wasn't in real danger of being hurt made her boldness return with full force. "You tried to _kill_ me! You're—you're awful! You're hardly the Sasuke-kun I knew," she cried, the pain in her chest throbbing in sync with the beating of your heart. "You're changed, you're—you're _vile_!"

The dream seemed to be turning directions in her favor; this fucked-up, backwards version of a possible future. As true, genuine shock and pain flashed across his face and through his eyes, she wanted to laugh. The real Sasuke would never let this type of emotion display clearly. But this dream-Sasuke's show of emotion made a sick, hateful part of her burn with satisfaction.

"Sakura…" Behind her, Naruto seemed shocked and standing before her Sasuke seemed to be at a loss for words. "How old are you?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, so tired of screaming and struggling and crying. She just wanted to wake up, she couldn't take this anymore.

"What year is it?" He demanded from her, "How old are you?"

"It's year 65," she snaps at him, "I'm sixteen! Why does this matter!?"

She doesn't see as much as _feel_ Naruto and Sasuke exchange glances over her head. "Sakura," Naruto speaks again slowly, his voice much calmer, "no it's not. It's year 77… you're just turned twenty-nine last month…"

"Shut up," she grumbled, closing her eyes and shaking her head, "I want to wake up now." Tears began to slip out from her eyes despite her attempts to keep them at bay. "I want to wake up."

"You _are_ awake, Sakura-chan."

Without warning the nausea overtook her senses, so when she vomited within seconds of speaking, she couldn't help but allow her weak legs to give way, the only thing holding her up being Naruto firm grip on her.

 _You are awake, Sakura. You are awake. You're awake. This is not a dream._

With one final look at Sasuke's defeated, helpless form, her head began to pound, and she felt her consciousness slip away.

* * *

 **A/N** : I didn't think I'd begin posting this story so soon after beginning it, but I really wanted to share it with you. So here you go, the long-awaited sequel to Changing Skies.

Things may be a bit confusing at first, but hopefully by next chapter everything will be cleared up and the story/conflict will be very clear to you all. I hope you enjoy and I'm incredibly excited to be sharing this story with you all. It won't be updated as often as Swallow Your Sleep, but I'll still be giving you all regular updates (you can count on new chapters once to twice a month at _least_ in the beginning).

So again, I hope you enjoy. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _Quick note before the chapter this week instead of after it. If you haven't read Changing Skies first then this story is not going to make much sense. I use OCs and plenty of plot points from that story that will be relevant to this one. Also, an updated summary of this story should be posted along with the next chapter later this month. Hopefully last chapter's confusion will be cleared up with this chapter (and if not, give it time, trust me). Enjoy._

* * *

Before she could open her eyes, she knew she was under sedation. The heaviness in her limbs was equal to the heaviness in her eyelids and despite regaining consciousness there was a strange dizziness she could feel that was much different than her earlier nausea.

Allowing for several minutes to pass before forcing open her eyes gave her enough time to try and calm herself. She had desperately hoped that it had been a dream, but somehow she knew that it was far from the truth.

Forcing her breathing to remain steady and attempting to keep her anxiety and confusion under control, she opened her eyes, looking around the room only to find it entirely unrecognizable.

Sakura knew this hospital inside and out, so for her to be inside a room that she didn't recognize—with no windows, she noted—made her feel much more uncomfortable than she already was with the situation. Perhaps she wasn't in the hospital at all? But if that was the case then where was she?

If Naruto had been telling her the truth… then she _could_ still be in the hospital. Or perhaps even in some new futuristic-type hospital.

She couldn't stop herself from wondering if she had any hand in what happened around the hospital in… this time period she appeared to be in.

This was all too much. There was no way that she was almost thirteen years ahead of where she was supposed to be. Perhaps she had had some sort of hallucination. It would make sense as to why she couldn't remember what had happened after Sasuke had attacked her.

And with the thought of Sasuke, tears sprang into her eyes and she allowed her heavy eyelids to close once more. His presence had definitely been a hallucination. A vivid one. Because Sasuke would never be in this village, and he would seemingly _never_ give a damn about her.

One day she would've hoped for that outcome, but now she knew it was simply an impossibility. Something that didn't make any sense.

Eyes opening once more she allowed them to flicker over toward the monitors. Well, at least she could identify them, so they didn't seem to have any strange machines hooked up to her.

Sitting up she was almost surprised to find herself free of restraints. Not that they'd be able to stop her, but still, it was protocol for _certain_ patients; although she didn't looked like she was in a psych ward.

She wanted someone to come and talk to her. She needed someone now, because despite the medications she could feel in her system repressing her anxiety, she knew that once they wore off she was going to be a nervous wreck.

Instead, at the moment she felt calm. A little sad, very tired, and completely confused. Thoughts of Sasuke lazily flew through her mind and she attempted to distract herself by simply examining the room. Finding a call button for the nurse she quickly pressed it a couple of times and sat, impatiently waiting.

Several minutes passed before the door finally opened—poor timing if it had been any other patient, she realized with mild dissatisfaction—and through it walked some familiar, yet slightly different, faces.

"Ino, Naruto," she breathed out in relief, sitting herself up. Despite her unease with Naruto—she was immediately reminded of the way he'd restrained her and forced her to look at Sasuke—she was incredibly happy to see them. When Ino approached, she couldn't help but throw her arms around her and cling to her tightly. Tears immediately began to fall.

"I'm so happy to see you," she cried, a laugh escaping as she embraced her friend, "I think I'm losing my mind."

She was happy to hear Ino laugh in reply and hug her back. "Yeah, I heard. That's why I'm here, crazy." Despite the obvious dig at her mental state, Sakura couldn't help but grin. The familiarity of conversing with Ino was easily calming her down.

When she pulled away, she continued holding onto Ino's arms, eyeing her up and down. "What the hell, Pig?"

Ino raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You look so good. I'm mad." Studying her face, something seemed to click in her head. "God, you _do_ look older. But like, not even in a bad way. This is so lame! What the hell…"

The blonde woman rolled her eyes. "That's because I'm in my twenties. _We're_ in our twenties."

"There's no way. I literally do not believe you."

Ino turned toward Naruto and nodded. So when he handed her a mirror, Sakura's stomach jumped into her throat. She knew exactly what was about to happen.

But even though she was anticipating it, she still gasped loudly when Ino held the mirror up to her, showing Sakura her very own face.

"Oh, my god…" Lifting her hands, she ran her fingers lightly over her cheeks, her nose, her neck, before they rose up and landed on her forehead, where a deep violet diamond seal was branded into her skin. "No way."

"You only unlocked that a few years ago." Naruto finally spoke up, sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at her with a serious look. "But that doesn't matter. Do you believe us now?"

Sakura ignored them for a few seconds, studying her face closely. Licking her thumb she rubbed it against the diamond, hard, as if entirely convinced it was nothing more than marker drawn on her head as a prank. But when it was clear that it was truly branded into her skin, her chest began to swell happily.

"I did it," she smiled, her joy overflowing. With the happiness of her accomplishment coursing through her, she examined the rest of her face. And much like Ino, she certainly looked older, but not in a bad way.

Her face was mature, much more angular than it was the last time she looked into her mirror. All of the roundness of her cheeks had faded, any remnants of childhood gone from her expression. She was a grown woman, and she looked the part.

"Sakura?" Ino asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. Sakura looked up to see her friend smiling crookedly at her. "You can be vain later, right now we have things to talk about."

"Okay," she nodded, still dazed as she lowered the mirror in her lap. Her eyes the flickered to Naruto and immediately she laughed. "Naruto," she placed a hand over her mouth, "I'm sorry but you're looking rough." She laughed again, "I like your haircut though!"

He frowned, his lower lip protruding slightly, his shoulders deflating a bit. Sakura only laughed louder; Naruto may have been older, but he still pouted the same way he always had.

"That's 'Hokage-sama' to you," he grumbled, folding his arms over his chest. "But seriously, we'll talk about that later."

"Hopefully, we won't _need_ to talk about that later." Ino spoke, removing the black gloves that Naruto hadn't noticed she'd been wearing. Taking another step toward Sakura, she placed one hand flat against her forehead, and another on the crown of her head. "Right now, I need to take a look around here. See what's going on." As Ino closed her eyes, Sakura turned back toward Naruto, swallowing thickly.

"So what? Do you think I have amnesia?"

"Definitely," Naruto nodded. "You were originally in the hospital because you'd been injured on a mission. You were unconscious when your team brought you back yesterday, but physically you were fine, other than some chakra depletion and a pretty nasty concussion." He laughed lightly, "That was the first time you've been hurt in _years_. You should've seen Sasuke's face when they—"

Sakura stiffened immediately at the mention of Sasuke and to his credit, Naruto noticed immediately.

"Eh," he scratched his head and smiled apologetically, "sorry. I know that you aren't… reacting to him well."

"Why is he here?" She demanded, trying to fight back the fear that was pulsing through her. "What is he _doing_ here?" She asked louder.

"Sakura," Ino muttered, eyes still closed and hands on her head, "quiet down."

"You've forgotten a lot, it seems." Naruto sighed. "Tell me what the last thing you remember is."

"I was in Iron Country, I found Sasuke, and before I could attack him he tried to kill me."

Naruto didn't even try to hide his frustration at her words, even swearing multiple times as he rubbed his temples. "Fuck. Okay. That explains things." He struggled to find some words for a few seconds, chewing on his lip. "Sasuke is back in the village—"

"I can see that," Sakura deadpanned. She just wanted Naruto to cut to the chase. "Why?"

"He's okay now, Sakura-chan," Naruto spoke softly, "he's okay now. Different. Good. He's not a threat to anyone now. Not you, not me, not Konoha. I promise."

The revelation caused Sakura's breath to entirely exit her body. These were words she'd wanted to hear for years now. For so long, Sakura dreamed of the day where Sasuke would return. And hearing that he was _okay_ and that he was, in no way, a threat or enemy to them, made emotion overwhelm her. But despite wanting this for so long now, she couldn't find herself excited over the revelation. If anything, it just made her more scared, more nervous.

"He tried to kill me," she whispered, staring at her hands. Images of her poisoned kunai flashed through her mind. "I tried to stab him. And he—he wanted me dead. I could see it in his eyes, Naruto. He wanted me _dead_." She could still hear the sound of the chidori ringing in her ears.

"Just wait," he spoke quietly, reaching out and taking her hand within his. "You'll be okay in a couple minutes. Just let Ino fix you."

But after a few minutes passed, and a few more, and many, many after that, Ino still did not take her hands off her head or back away.

She was sure almost half an hour had passed before the woman finally opened her eyes and backed away. Looking into her frustrated eyes, Sakura's heart sank.

"You can't fix me?"

She huffed, "I checked first to see if it was a jutsu or something that an enemy did to you. But it seems just like it's a case of retrograde amnesia. A really, really rare case."

"Well, how long am I supposed to be like this!?" She asked, panic welling up within her. She couldn't be stuck like this, stuck as a sixteen year old in a grown woman's body. She needed to know what happened. She needed those years, and whatever happened during them, back.

"Calm down. Your memory could return in hours or even days. Worst case, you're like this for a few weeks or months. But retrograde amnesia rarely ever lasts longer than a few months."

" _Months_?" Both Naruto and Sakura spoke at the same time.

"You mean you can't fix her brain?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.

Ino shook her head. "I tried to repair any damage—which I did—and I hoped that it would jog her memory or just release the hold it has on them—which it didn't—so now we have to wait." Ino sighed, seemingly just as frustrated and defeated as the other occupants of the room. "On the plus side, I fixed your concussion."

"Thanks," Sakura muttered insincerely.

"We'll have to run some tests, examine your brain activity more thoroughly and get a record of it. I couldn't detect any permanent brain damage, but any scans should catch anything I may have missed." Ino placed a gentle hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Your memories will come back, okay? I promise. It's just going to take some time."

"Okay," she nodded, her fingers rubbing the hospital blanket between her fingers. "So when do I get out of here?"

Ino and Naruto exchanged glances.

"Well, the scans and tests should be finished by the end of the day, but we'll want to keep you for observations tonight. So _at least_ another day or so." Blowing some hair out of her face, Ino placed her hands on her hips. "Maybe longer. We'll just have to wait and see. It would be better if we could figure out a way to get you your memory—or at least _some_ memories—back before we release you. So that's what the focus will be for however much longer you're here."

"This is frustrating."

Ino spared her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Forehead. I'll be back in a little while, okay?" she spoke softly, picking up a clipboard and scribbling a few things onto it. "I'm just going to schedule your tests and get everything put together." And with another smile, she exited the room, leaving the two alone.

"Well, this blows," flopping back onto her bed Sakura stared with frustration up at the ceiling. Eyeing Naruto from where he sat on the edge of her bed. "Are you allowed to tell me things about the future—or I guess about now, technically—or is that not allowed?"

Naruto shrugged. "No one's specifically told me not to, but I don't want Ino yelling at me."

"Damn," Sakura deadpanned. "These stupid memories better come back quickly, because I am _not_ in the mood to deal with stupid amnesia right now."

Naruto only laughed at her statement, the sound causing her to feel a little better. But even as she allowed his warm company to distract her, the memory of blood red eyes and crackling electricity was still haunting her.

* * *

The next few days passed horribly slowly, and by the end of the third day of her stay in the hospital, Sakura just about had enough.

"This is the most boring, inconvenient thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life," she grumbled into her pillow. The sun had gone down a couple of hours ago and by all means she should be preparing to sleep, but over the past few days her frustration had begun to get the better of her. With no contact to the outside world, no knowledge of what the current world was like, and absolutely no information about her future— _current_ , she had to keep thinking—self she was running short on patience.

Naruto, who was sitting comfortably in a chair near the foot of her bed, his feet propped up on the edge of the bed, laughed. "Sorry I'm not better company."

"It's clear that I'm not going to remember anything while I'm just here sitting in this room," she ranted, completely ignoring Naruto's quip. "Why not just let me out of here and let nature take it's course?"

Naruto scoffed. "It's not that easy, Sakura-chan. It's been thirteen years. Lots of stuff has happened; complicated, weird stuff."

Turning her face into the pillow she let out a half-hearted groan. "I just want to _know_ already!" As she complained she heard the sound of the door opening and upon hearing Ino's voice, she lifted her head.

"She complaining again?" Ino asked Naruto, walking him and slapping his feet off of the bed.

"Please tell me some good news," Sakura begged overdramatically, sitting herself upward, facing her two blonde friends.

"By good news you mean 'tell me what I want to hear'?"

Sakura shrugged. "Well, can I get out of here yet?"

"We're discharging you tomorrow," Ino informed her, but before Sakura could say anything, she held up a hand, "but don't get too worked up over it yet. You still have a lot of stuff you need to know."

"Finally," she grumbled, a hint of a smile on her face. "And that's good. Just tell me what I need to know so I can get out of here." When Ino grabbed her arm to test her blood pressure, Sakura let her.

The tall woman was silent for a couple of minutes as she took Sakura's vitals. Despite it not being awkward, the silence began to slowly unnerve her, her initial excitement beginning to ebb. Sakura's anxiety had been through the roof over the past few days, her only comfort lying in the hope that her memory would be jogged and she'd be back to normal. But nothing had happened and no progress had been made, meaning she'd have to learn about her life the hard way: piece by piece while being thrown into a world she didn't recall.

Ino turned toward Naruto, momentarily ignoring Sakura's presence. "I have to get some things done now, do you want to wait for me to finish or…"

Naruto shook his head and waved a dismissive hand toward the woman. "No, no. I got this. Go do what you need to do."

Finally looking at Sakura, she spoke again, biting her lip and looking far too apprehensive for Sakura's liking. "If you have… any questions about anything Naruto is telling you when I get back, I'll answer them for you."

"Okay, thanks." Sakura spoke a little too quickly, nearly squirming in her seat. "See you." And with a wave, Ino turned and left the room.

"I'm going to need to talk to you about a lot of things," Naruto added, his expression stern, making him appear even more tired than he already looked. Standing up he abandoned his chair to sit on the edge of her bed. "Important things."

"I know. About me, right?"

Naruto nodded. "And about your life."

"Can we do that now then? I just want to get this over with." She asked restlessly, swallowing the thickness in her throat. There was a strange hysteria welling upside her. What did she do with her life now? It was clear from her initial injury that she went on missions, but what kind of missions? Was she a jounin? Did she have a genin team? Or was she merely a medic that got assigned to random teams who needed one?

Did she still live with her parents? Oh god, she hoped not, as much as she loved them.

"I… guess we can just jump right into it then." He rubbed his neck, and by his body language it was clear he was not the person who wanted to do this, despite his assurance to Ino less than a minute prior.

Sakura turned toward Naruto and inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly. "Okay. Question," she licked her lips, "how long have you been Hokage?"

Naruto gave her a half-grin, "Since we were nineteen."

"Nice," she smiled widely at him, so genuinely excited for him that she could only hope he could sense her happiness for him. "You deserve it, you pain in the ass."

He laughed, "I'm pretty sure you said something very similar to that when I was inaugurated, too."

She laughed along with him, simply because interacting with Naruto had always been so effortless for her. She was so happy he was here with her, and that he'd be the one telling her these things.

Taking in the sight of her friend, older and—assumedly—wiser, when her eyes spotted something on his left hand, she gasped.

"Naruto!" Reaching forward, she grabbed his hand, holding it up for him to see. His gold wedding band glinted in the light. "How did I not see this before!? You're married!"

"Yep!" He nodded. "For eight years now."

"Who did you—no wait, let me guess." He laughed but she leaned forward, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "They're from Konoha, right?"

"Yes."

"Do I know them?"

"Of course."

"They graduated with us, didn't they?" A smile began to creep onto her face when Naruto confirmed it. She had a feeling she knew exactly which one of her friends it was. "So, did Hinata take your name or no?"

He smiled, "Sort of. Hyuuga-Uzumaki doesn't exactly flow too well, but she wanted to have both."

Sakura couldn't contain the girlish scream that she released as she clapped her hands happily. "I knew it I knew it I _knew_ it! God, she's liked you for forever."

"So I heard."

"What about Ino? Is she married?"

"Oh, you're never going to guess who she married. And before you ask, yes you know him."

She paused, thinking to herself. She figured using a process of elimination would help her out. "Who _didn't_ get married?"

"Kiba, Shino, uh, Chouji's not married _yet_ , but he gets married at the end of the summer. So he doesn't count. And Shikamaru isn't married but he and Temari might as well be."

"It's not Sai, is it…?" Naruto only grinned widely at her. "Shut up. Shut up! You're lying. You've got to be lying!" As she yelled at him, she sat up, tucking her feet under her and sitting on them. "There's no way."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Ino when she gets back." He leaned back on his hands. "This is honestly the funniest conversation I've had with anyone in years."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I guess I should get amnesia more often then, huh?"

"If you wouldn't mind," he snickered.

"Glad I can be so entertaining." She leaned back on her hands, too, mimicking Naruto's pose. "Do you and Hinata have any kids?" When he nodded, she couldn't hold back her squeal. "You better have pictures!" She pointed a stern finger at him. So when he reached into his back pocket, she couldn't help but bounce where she sat. The adrenaline coursing through her body was simply intoxicating, and paired with the fact that she was learning all about her friends future lives— _current_ lives, she corrected herself again, _current_ —made her feel a type of giddiness she'd never before experienced.

"It's kind of an old one—"

Quickly grabbing the picture out of his hands, she pulled it to her face, sitting up straighter as she looked at it. She gasped at the sight, placing her hand over her mouth. "Naruto," she was smiling behind her hand, "they're _adorable_."

"Kenji is six and Seiji is three," he spoke, pointing to each of his children. Both of the boys had byakugan, just like their mother. The older of the two had dark hair, but beside that he mostly resembled Naruto. The younger one had blonde hair and was the spitting image of the Hokage that sat beside her, only without the whisker-marks—bare cheeks, just like his older brother.

The picture was taken around wintertime, judging by the decorative surroundings. The toddler sat in his older brother's lap smiling sweetly. The older one, Kenji, held onto his brother tightly, the picture seemingly catching him mid-laugh.

"They're beautiful," she whispered, tears in her eyes. She eyed him, noticing the other pictures he had in his hand. "Do you have more?"

Reaching forward, she grabbed a small stack of wallet-sized pictures out of his hand and began to flip through them before he could stop her. A couple of baby pictures of his sons were there, mixed in with a few small-sized family portraits; her eyes lingered on Hinata's face in these and she felt her smile widen. One of the last pictures was a group photo of a handful of children. She could easily identify Naruto's two children, but there were also four other children in the photos.

She could identify what she assumed to be Shikamaru and Temari's son—he looked _exactly_ like her old friend and his large, green eyes were definitely Temari's—who was the only one not smiling in the photo. He looked as if he were probably four years old, _max_ , as he pouted at someone who was standing behind the camera.

The smallest was a little boy that didn't look much older than Naruto's youngest. His hair and eyes were all Ino's but Sakura almost swore to herself when she realized that, feature-wise, the baby looked _exactly_ like Sai. And then her eyes wandered toward the last two children.

There was a girl who was much older than the rest, who looked like she could be a young teenager. Sakura couldn't see her directly since her head was turned and she was speaking to a baby perched on her hip, pointing toward the camera as if to get the child to look. She had long, dark hair that fell past her shoulders, and Sakura could just barely see a hint of dark eyes just past her side-bangs.

But it wasn't the sight of the girl that rendered her speechless; it was the baby. What caught Sakura's eye before anything else was his dusty, pink hair that messily stuck out from his small head as he turned to face away from the camera.

When Naruto snatched the pile of pictures back out of her hand, she allowed him, her eyes staring blankly ahead of her. The only image that was swimming through her mind was of the child with the chalky pink hair.

It took her a few seconds before she looked up at him only to meet his anticipatory gaze.

"Is that my… my…" but for some reason she couldn't say the words. Suddenly her mouth felt incredibly dry.

Naruto sighed, running a hand down his face. "You weren't supposed to see that yet," he muttered lowly, swearing to himself under his breath. "But yeah, they're both yours."

 _Both_.

"Wait. What do you mean, both?" The thought of having one child was enough for her, but two? She'd only seen the little boy with the pink hair, who else in that picture could've been her child…

Her eyes widened with realization. The girl. With the dark hair and dark eyes. Holding what was undoubtedly her other child. The tall, older girl who looked so much like someone else she knew…

As the pieces fell into place, all the breath flew from her lungs, the blood draining from her face. There was no way. Suddenly she felt like she was in another dream; nothing felt real.

And with another sigh he handed the picture back over to her. Robotically she accepted it back, although it took her a long moment before she could force herself to look back down at it.

"That is Katahana and Souta. They're your children."

Staring down at the picture, she felt her whole body tense up for a few seconds before all the tightness seemed to slowly drain from her body. Her eyes flickered back and forth between their faces, trying to commit everything she saw to memory.

She may have had no memory of her two children—and as far as she knew only hours ago, she had been sixteen and in the middle of a fight for her life—but the swell of emotion she felt in her chest was undoubtedly a maternal feeling, something she couldn't even begin to explain, let alone understand.

Katahana and Souta. Her children. Her _children_. God, she couldn't believe that she was a mother. Again, she wanted to remember, she wished she could remember, and despite the fact that her condition was caused through no fault of her own, she felt disgustingly guilty.

She had children that she couldn't remember.

 _What kind of mother_ am _I_?

"How old is this picture?" Sakura blurted out, unable to find any other words to speak. She was surprised that she was even able to say that much; she was sure that she'd stopped breathing entirely, she didn't know when the breath of air had collected in her lungs.

"This is the most recent picture we have of all of them. It was at Hana's birthday party last month."

"How old is she?" She spoke again, seeming to find her voice easier this time. "How old are they both?"

"Hana is twelve and Souta is…" he paused for a few seconds and Sakura wanted to hit him—how could he be her friend and _not_ know how old her child was?! "Seventeen months old." Upon seeing her irritated expression. "No, _no_. Don't you dare look at me like that. You always correct me when I call him 'one'. You're not allowed to give me that look. It's your fault I had to do that math."

Sakura let it go easily, just taken aback with how young her second child was, and how _old_ her first one was.

"Katahana-" she paused to correct herself, "Hana is twelve? How is that possible? I was only _seventeen_ twelve years ago." Just the idea of her being a teenage mother sounded ridiculous to her own ears. There's no way that she would ever—

The nausea hit her just as a terrifying thought flew through her head.

"Sasuke," she whispered, alarmed, "he's her father. He has to be. She looks just like him. Sasuke is her father isn't he?" She looked up at Naruto with eyes wide and full of unshed tears. "Isn't he?!"

"Yes, he is. Sakura, calm down—"

"What happened after he attacked me Naruto?" She asked, picture forgotten on the bed as she leaned forward and grabbed his hands tightly. "You have to tell me. What happened? What did he—did he do anything? Did he—did he-?"

"Sakura, you need to breathe." He instructed, lifting her hands and placing them on top of her head. "Slowly, breathe. What are you trying to say? Breathe."

But she couldn't breathe. Her panic was overwhelming her. Just the thought that Sasuke was Hana's father, and knowing that her last memory of Sasuke was of him trying to kill her, made her mind jump to sickening conclusions.

"He—he—what did he do to me? He didn't—please tell me he didn't…"

Naruto's eyes widened as he wrapped his arms around her. "Sakura-chan. No, _no_. Never. God, don't think that, okay? He would never do that." He held her tightly, running his hand over her head soothingly. Sakura was so thankful Naruto had understood; she didn't think she would've been able to get the question out without breaking down.

"He didn't do anything like that to you, Sakura. I promise. He would never, ever do anything like that."

"He tried to kill me," she whimpered, clinging to him as she gasped, sucking in as much air as possible as her relief flooded through her. "I just—what would've stopped him from—"

" _No_ ," his voice was so stern, so loud, that Sakura jumped, lifting a hand and placing it over her mouth. "Sakura. I know that for you, that day happened just yesterday, but for us—for Sasuke—that day was years ago. Lots of things have happened, I…" he sighed, "I can't explain it all to you. You have to hear it all for him. There's only so much I know. But that day, way back then, Kakashi stopped him before he hurt you. Kakashi fought him, you healed Karin, and when you tried attacking him again, he attacked you back. I saved you that time." He squeezed her tightly before pulling out of the embrace. "You left Iron Country completely unharmed that day. Well, physically," he added with a small grimace. "You were alright. He didn't hurt you."

Closing her eyes, she lifted a hand and wiped at her face. _Thank god,_ she kept repeating in her head. _Thank god, oh thank god._

"But I don't understand…" she sighed, feeling incredibly tired. "How is it we have a twelve-year-old daughter?"

Naruto sighed. "I can't explain that to you," he repeated from earlier, "only Sasuke can. I'm sorry, I don't know the specifics of your relationship with him back then. Only you two do. Well, I guess only Sasuke knows now."

"I wish I remembered," she mumbled miserably, scooting herself backward onto the bed and lowering her head back down against the pillows. "I wish I…" she paused abruptly, glancing at her ring finger on her left hand. Finding it bare she looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

"Yeah, you two're married."

Letting out a long breath of air she lifted her hands, rubbing her eyes with her palms. "I don't know why I'm so upset," she muttered, "well, that's not true I guess. But… but I should be happier right?" She laughed bitterly. "I'm finally married to Sasuke. I have kids with him. But how the hell am I supposed to forget about what he did—what he tried to do—to me."

"I don't know," he spoke softly, looking away, "But you and Sasuke figured it out once. I know that you can do it again. At least until you get your memories back." He patted the bed a few times, smiling at her gently before standing up. "How about this, I let you rest today and in the morning we talk some more. You don't need to see Sasuke any time soon if you don't feel comfortable. Even if you want to wait until your memories back, that's alright. You don't have to go anywhere near him until that happens."

"But—but what about my… my kids?" It felt like such a strange question as it rolled off her tongue. "What about them? I can't just leave them, can I? I'm their _mother_."

"I'm sure Sasuke can handle it."

"No," she spoke firmly. But before Naruto could speak again, she shook her head. "No, it's not that I don't trust him or anything, but I… I can't just avoid them all. I think," she bit the inside of her cheek and inhaled deeply, "I need to talk to him."

"Sakura-chan, you don't—"

"I _want_ to see him," she spoke louder, staring at Naruto with a firm glare. As much as that statement was a lie, and as terrified as she was at the thought of seeing him—despite the fresh memory of their attempts on each other's lives—she knew she _had_ to. Even if just for the sake of the children she'd never met.

"Okay," Naruto nodded once, rocking back and forth on his feet, "so, when do you want to see him? I can have him stop by tomorrow morning if you want, after you get some rest."

"No, I need to talk to him before that. Like, now."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up, "Sakura, don't you think you should give yourself some time—"

"By the time it takes you to get him, I'll be ready." It was a lie, but she forced the words out anyways.

The Hokage looked uneasy suddenly, "Well, the thing is… he's kind of, sort of, already here."

"What? Why?" She asked bluntly.

"Because you're his wife," he laughed, giving her a gentle but slightly teasing look. "He's hardly left since we moved you into this room. Your kids are with Hinata; they've been at my place all week."

"Okay," she breathed out slowly before inhaling deeply. _That's right_ , she thought in an attempt to calm herself down, _breathe in and out, you'll be okay, it's alright_. But she'd never been good at lying.

Even to herself.

"Go get him," she spoke with false confidence. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

Naruto didn't speak any more, only offering her one more tired look before nodding and turning away, promptly exiting the room.

Hardly two minutes had passed before she heard it, a light tapping on the door. Was he knocking? She waited a few more seconds before she heard the sound again, a little louder this time. He was probably under the impression she hadn't heard it, not knowing that she was struggling to find any words.

"Come in." She tried to speak loudly, but it came out as a meek call.

When the door slowly opened, she couldn't tear her eyes away as he slipped through the doorway, softly closing the door behind him before turning toward her.

Meeting his dark eyes, she shivered involuntarily. _You're okay_ , she reminded herself, _you're alright._

"Sakura," he exhaled her name, the relief carrying through the single word.

"Hi," she spoke in a raspy voice, trying to keep from flinching back at the sound of his deep baritone.

"Is this okay?" He spoke after several long seconds of standing by the door. "Or do you want me to come back?"

"No," she spoke, a little too quickly, "don't. I have to talk to you. I… I have to know everything."

With careful steps he approached, grabbing a chair and pulling towards her bed. He made sure to keep a few feet between them, and Sakura appreciated the gesture.

"I don't think I can tell you everything," he spoke quietly, never once taking his eyes off of her. "But I can tell you what you need to know right now."

Sakura laughed dryly, "I… I need to know everything! I need to know what's going on! I just… I need to know how we have a twelve year old when I'm apparently only _twenty-nine_! I need to know why you tried to kill me! I need to know how to get my memories back!" She was speaking too fast and gasping for breath in between statements, trying hard to hold herself together. "I need to know how _this_ happened!" Lifting a hand, she gestured between the two of them.

"That's a lot of things, Sakura."

"And I need to know all of them." She defended quickly.

"I'll tell you," he spoke, as if trying to subdue her steadily rising anger, "but it's going to take a while. More than just a conversation. More than just a day or a week."

"I want to meet them," she blurted out suddenly, "I want to see Katahana and… and Souta."

He looked at her carefully, as if he didn't know that Naruto had told her about the kids. "When you decide to come home, they'll be there."

 _Home_ , the word scared her. Knowing that she shared a home and a life with Sasuke should have made her feeling on top of the world, but it only frightened her. Upon their encounter in Iron Country, the universe had scared her wildest dreams out of her, then picked them up and forced them into her unwilling arms, and now she hardly knew how to react.

She looked up at him, noting his tired eyes and sad expression. Her heart clenched at the sight; he was just as beautiful as he'd ever been. Maybe even more so—no, _definitely_ more handsome.

She loved him. That was still certain. But _god_ , was she scared of what she was going to find out.

Sakura had built a life together with Uchiha Sasuke and didn't remember a single thing about it. There was no stopping the tears once they began.

"I'm sorry," she cried, her words starting off as whimpers, "I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, I'm sorry. I wish I could remember. I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun." She was so incredibly tired. And before she could stop herself, she was sobbing.

He reached out hesitantly, but stopped before his hand could touch her own, as if reminding himself to stay at a distance.

Sakura didn't think—didn't even allow herself to—when she grabbed his hand and held it tightly with both of hers, still letting apology after apology spill forth from her lips. Lifting his hand she brought it to her face, leaning her forehead against the top of his hand. "I'm scared," she confessed, "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I'm just scared."

To her surprise, he didn't pull away, but she had to remind herself that they were technically married. They'd done much more than hold hands, and they had the children to prove it.

Inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, she gripped his hand tightly, the warmth of him reminding her that this was real. This was her Sasuke-kun. The monster that he had started turning into was gone. (Or so she hoped.)

This was the boy she'd fallen in love with and the man she'd apparently started a life with.

When he turned his hand slightly so that his palm was resting against her cheek, she was proud of herself when she didn't flinch away, and even prouder when she didn't panic as he began to sweep his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping away the tears that were falling. The adrenaline coursing through her body was helping her to keep her composure, and she hoped that she wouldn't lose her nerve any time soon.

 _It's okay,_ she thought to herself, _it's safe, it's okay. I'm safe. I'm okay. He's not going to hurt me. He's not going to kill me. I'm okay. I'm safe._

Now all she had to do was convince herself of this.


	3. Chapter 3

The following morning she woke up to find her room full of people.

It had immediately put her on high alert and as she gripped the rails on each side of her bed, Shizune appeared out of nowhere, grinning down at her with a hand around her wrist. "Try not to break more of these beds, if you can."

Seeing her mentor made her smile back widely, relieved at seeing another familiar face. Just about all of the other medics were practically strangers to her, despite the fact they addressed her as Sakura-san and all appeared to know her, some of them even personally.

She smiled a lot that morning, apologizing to people when she asked their names and how she knew them. Thankfully everyone had been incredibly accommodating, each one of them telling her their name, where they worked, how long they'd been there, and other mundane details like that.

Sakura made it her duty to attempt to remember as much as she could about each person. By the time her room was emptied and she was prepared to be released she at least could place their faces to each of their names.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Ino had brought her some clothes from her house which were, surprisingly, a bit more revealing than the clothes she'd worn as a teenager. Not that she minded. In fact, she was incredibly pleased at her taste. When she was a young girl she feared that her fashion sense would completely go awry the closer she got to her thirties—much like her mother—but so far she was delightfully surprised.

Looking at herself in the mirror of her hospital room, she pulled at the hem of her shirt and found herself fiddling with the waistband of her pants. Of course, her eyes eventually focused on the purple byakugou seal in the center of her forehead. Despite the fact that it was in her skin, much like a tattoo would be, she still found herself running her fingers across her forehead. She couldn't feel it physically, but the pride and happiness that coursed through her at its sight was all she needed.

Ino had pinned her bangs back with a couple of hair clips. "This is how you usually wear it." And looking in the mirror now, Sakura had to admit that, for a woman who was almost thirty, she looked pretty damn good.

"Hey," Ino peeked her head back into the bathroom, "you done checking yourself out yet?"

Sakura turned around, ignoring her comment as she exited the bathroom and joined Ino in the hospital room. "I'm ready."

Despite the seriousness of her condition and the fact that she was going to meet her children today, she didn't feel scared or anxious. Instead, excitement unlike anything she'd ever felt before coursed through her.

"Good. So Naruto is going to meet us there, and Sasuke will already be there. Hinata is still watching the kids but she should have them over there by now. She'll be upstairs with them while we get you situated and all."

"Got it."

The night before, when Naruto and Ino helped go over the plan for that day, Sakura had originally asked for all of her friends to be there. Kakashi-sensei and Sai especially. But when Naruto and Ino exchanged a look—something they'd been doing quite often since she found herself in this predicament—Sakura frowned.

Ino told her that it might be too much change for her to take in and that it was better to only see a few people at a time to start off, and even though it made sense, Sakura was immediately suspicious.

When Sakura was finally discharged and they both left to make their way to the new Uchiha manor, Sakura's anticipation started to grow.

" _Tell me what they're like",_ Sakura had asked Sasuke the day before. " _Anything, really. I just want to know as much as I can before I meet them_."

He had nodded, and when he began to speak there was a slight smirk gracing his lips. " _Hana's exactly like you. As if they implanted your personality into her."_ He'd looked up to her and shook his head. " _It's sort of scary sometimes."_

Hearing him crack jokes had made something in her swell with emotion. It was so unlike anything Sasuke had ever done before, but watching him smirk and talk about their children while throwing in a teasing comment every now and then simply felt so _right_. As if this man was who Sasuke had been all along.

" _Souta is a very quiet boy. Very affectionate. I'm sure he gets that from you."_ Sakura had blushed at the statement. " _But he's got a stubborn streak in him. The other day you said you thought the terrible two's were beginning to kick in early._ "

Sakura had laughed genuinely as she listened. Her knees pulled up to her chest and her chin rested on top. Her left hand was still being held by his right. Every now and then he'd shift or squeeze her hand, suddenly reminding her of the contact. And without fail, Sakura would lower her head down a little further in an attempt to hide her blush from his face.

She swore at some point that he was simply doing that to evoke the flustered reaction from her.

Another surprising thing to witness him do, but it felt so normal to see him like this.

" _Hana doesn't know what's going on yet,"_ he'd eventually told her, his voice quiet, " _she knows you were hurt on your mission, and she knows that something happened this morning, but she doesn't know what exactly."_

" _Tell her,"_ Sakura had instructed him, " _or at least give her some sort of warning, or heads-up or something_." She'd frowned. " _I don't want to upset her_."

As she and Ino walked down the streets, Sakura couldn't help but stare in awe at the countless buildings that had been built. Some of them were simply so _tall_ that she didn't know how their construction was even possible. Thirteen years could do a lot to a place, she realized as she walked alongside her friend.

The house was larger than what she'd expected, and judging by the freshly paved roads and small, young trees in the yards of the neighboring houses, she was guessing it was new.

"How long have I lived here?" She asked as they approached, her eyes wide as she admired the house's beauty.

"Almost two years. You guys moved in when you were pregnant with Souta. Your old house only had two bedrooms." Ino turned toward Sakura and smiled. "Sasuke actually surprised you with it. You were so mad."

Sakura blinked. "I was? Why?"

Ino laughed, "You were supposed to pick the house out together and when you found out he'd gone behind your back and gone overboard you were _pissed_." She playfully pushed her with her shoulder. "You got over it really quickly though once you saw how nice it was."

"I can't imagine being mad at having this as my home," she spoke in awe as they walked through a small gate connected to a white fence that surrounded the property. "It's so beautiful. And so _big_. Why is it so _big_?!" The front yard wasn't too big, but she could tell simply by peering down the side of the house that they had an enormous backyard. There wasn't much in the yard, just a couple of trees and some flowers here and there.

Anyone else may have thought it looked plain, but to her, it was perfect.

Ino rolled your eyes, "It's huge because your husband is a ridiculous man."

Hearing Ino refer to Sasuke as her husband caused butterflies to erupt in her stomach. It was such a foreign word to her, and the idea that she was his _wife_ made her borderline dizzy.

"Ready?" Ino asked, pausing before they walked up the front steps. Sakura merely nodded, buzzing with a strange type of enthusiasm.

The inside was just as beautiful as the outside. There was no clutter and there were no tacky knick-knacks anywhere. A couple of house plants were situated in corners, the colors of the paint were tasteful and didn't clash with the furniture she saw, and she could see photo's lining a far wall down a hallway.

Resisting the urge to stride down the hall and study each and every photo, she instead followed Ino down a different hallway leading to a wide open room. That was where they found Naruto and Sasuke, sitting in silence, both of them with stern expressions on their faces.

"The guest of honor has arrived," Ino bowed dramatically, arms extended toward Sakura.

She couldn't help but scoff at the introduction. "Guest? Isn't this _my_ house?"

"Yeah, yeah, go sit your butt down."

Meeting Sasuke's eyes she chewed on the inside of her cheek. He was so breathtakingly beautiful that just his eyes on her were enough to make her insides feel like jelly. With careful steps she walked over to the men and sat on the far end of the couch Sasuke was sitting on. After a few seconds, she realized how bad that looked—as if she were trying to put much distance between them as possible—so she purposefully scooted herself a little closer. They were still arm's length apart but it looked less awkward than it did previously.

"This house is so big," Sakura blurted out, looking over at Sasuke. It was the first thing she could think of to say in order to initiate conversation. "Why is it so big?"

Naruto laughed and Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It's not that big," he muttered. The way he crossed his arms and sighed made it seem like they'd certainly had this conversation before.

"I mean, it's beautiful, but it's so big." She paused, "How many bedrooms does it have?"

"Does it matter—"

"Guess." Naruto grinned, leaning forward from where he sat on the couch opposite to them.

"Four?" She asked.

"Do we have to do this now?"

"Nope," Naruto shook his head, ignoring Sasuke's irritation to respond to Sakura's guess. "More."

"Six?"

" _More_."

Sakura's eyes widened and she turned toward Sasuke. "Are there seriously more than six bedrooms in this house?"

"You can see for yourself later," he muttered, appearing mildly exasperated as he leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Don't you want to see the kids?" He mentioned, quickly and very successfully changing the topic.

Sakura immediately pushed any of her questions straight out of her mind and stiffened. "Yeah," she spoke quickly, "they're here, right?"

"Yeah," Naruto stood up and made a move to exit the room. "I'll be right back."

The second he left the room her nerves struck her. She'd hadn't felt a single ounce of anxiety all morning, only pure and joyful excitement. But now, knowing she was only minutes away from meeting her two children, she found herself frozen with worry.

Sasuke noticed immediately. "Hey. You're okay." He didn't make any move to initiate physical contact, but he did turn his body toward her and lean forward slightly. She sighed and closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing; his body language was providing her with more than enough comfort.

"I'm so nervous," she whispered out loud, first meeting Ino's eyes before glancing at Sasuke. His eyes were soft as he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get any words out, he stopped.

The sound of a giggle ripped herself out of her thoughts as her head shot toward the doorway.

Naruto walked in smiling widely, a wiggling, pink-haired toddler in his arms. Everything around her froze as she stared at the boy, _her son_.

"Mama!" The boy squealed excitedly, struggling to free himself from the Hokage's grip. "Mama home! Mama home!"

The second Naruto placed him on the ground, the boy ran forward on chubby, awkward legs. Sakura instinctively leaned forward, arms outstretched toward him as her eyes widened. She was so frightened that he'd fall, the way he was half-running, half-stumbling toward her. And when he finally scurried up to her, hugging her legs, Sakura leaned forward and embraced the child.

When the boy felt his mother's arms around him, he held his arms up to her. "Up Mama, up!"

Slowly, Sakura placed her hands under his armpits and lifted him onto her lap. It had been years since she'd held a baby and she'd forgotten just how _light_ they were. Immediately the boy snuggled close to her, sitting on her lap and resting his head against her chest. One of his hands reached up to her sleeve and hooked a couple of his fingers around the fabric, the other hand was held up to his face as he sucked his thumb.

He was so beautiful. He looked just like a perfect combination of her and Sasuke. He had dark, almost-black eyes and a head of messy, pink hair. It wasn't as bright or vibrant as her hair and it held a dusty brown tint to it—a much more subdued color than hers—but just one look at him would confirm that he was definitely her child.

"Souta," Sasuke spoke, reaching forward and plucking the child's thumb from their mouth. "No thumb."

The child pouted and once Sasuke released his chubby arm he stuck his thumb right back into his mouth.

Sakura just laughed. When Sasuke frowned and attempted to move the child's thumb from his mouth Sakura leaned away from him. "Hey, stop it. You can do this later." She shot him a glare that didn't hold any weight. "Let me meet my son." She was sure the way she was smiling widely further added to the faux seriousness of his request.

"You are so cute," Sakura grinned down, one arm wrapping around his tiny body and the other gently cradling the back of his head. She turned toward Sasuke with tear-filled eyes. "He's so beautiful."

"And he's been giving me hell ever since you left on that mission."

Sakura laughed. "So, you're a mama's boy, huh?" She asked him, blinking back tears and smiling widely.

The child removed his thumb to smile up at her, revealing a row of tiny teeth. "Mama!" He spoke happily before leaning his head against her once more.

Overwhelmed with joy, she leaned her head down against his and laughed, still attempting to blink away her tears. Sure, they were happy tears, but she didn't want her kids to see her crying.

Suddenly reminded of the older of her two children, she lifted her head only to see a young girl standing in the doorway across the room. She was gripping the doorframe and staring at Sakura with a questioning look. Behind her stood Hinata, hair much shorter than Sakura remembered, and eyes as bright as ever; the woman smiled brightly at her.

"Hana," Sakura breathed. "Hi."

When the girl didn't move Sakura suddenly grew nervous. Did the girl not want to see her? Had they had a fight prior to this mission she'd been on? Did she have a strained relationship with her daughter?

Before her stomach could jump into her throat the girl began to walk up to her with slow, even steps. And as Sakura met her eyes she almost gasped.

She was the spitting image of Sasuke. A gorgeous young girl with long, straight, black hair that fell past her shoulders. For a twelve-year-old, she was surprisingly tall. Sakura was sure that if she stood up the girl would be up to her chin.

As Hana approached, Sakura shifted further down the couch, making a space between her and Sasuke for the girl to sit. But when she eventually reached them and sat down on the sofa, Sakura could immediately see how tense the girl was.

"Hi," Sakura said again, smiling warmly at her.

When Hana said nothing, instead staring at her hands in her lap, Sakura's heart sunk. Swiftly, Sasuke elbowed her lightly in the side.

"We talked about this," he spoke quietly to the girl.

She sighed, but then turned her head toward Sakura. "Hey, Mom…"

Just hearing her voice made the tightness in her chest lighten up a little.

"When are you going to be… you know… normal again?"

"Hana—"

"No, it's okay," she said to Sasuke, before looking back to her daughter. "They think it could be anywhere from several weeks to a couple of months. But my memories could start coming back before then, so we just have to wait and see." She smiled sadly, feeling guilty once more, despite the fact that she couldn't help her current situation. In her lap, Souta's fingers played with her sleeve, sucking away happily on his thumb.

"So you don't remember me?" She asked in a small voice; the guilt stabbed Sakura dully in the chest again.

"No, I'm sorry." Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, hoping and praying that the girl wouldn't burst into tears. She could only _imagine_ how Hana felt, knowing that your own mother didn't remember a single thing about you; it must be heartbreaking for her.

"That's weird," she spoke bluntly, "you really _did_ hit your head hard on your mission, didn't you?"

Sakura blinked, surprised by the girl's sudden change in both tone and attitude. She looked at Sasuke for a split second before lowering her gaze back to her daughter's.

"Apparently so," she smiled, glad to see the girl wasn't as upset as she seemed. She shrugged. "I had a pretty bad concussion."

Ino laughed where she sat across from them. "That's an understatement. That head of yours has seen better days."

"Clearly," Hana spoke. Sakura almost busted out laughing; was that _sarcasm_ she'd heard in her daughter's voice? "So what? You couldn't fix her?"

"You know how stubborn your mom is?" The girl nodded. "Well, her brain is just as bad."

"Makes sense." The girl nodded, shifting so that she was sitting on one of her feet, the other still on the ground.

"I don't need to be 'fixed'," Sakura cut in, a bit grumpily. "I'm just…"

"Broken," Hana said.

Sakura looked back to Sasuke, almost exasperated; their daughter was so candid. Sasuke only smirked before averting his eyes to watch Souta play with her sleeve. That's when Sakura realized that he wasn't going to be of any help.

"So you don't remember _anything_?" Hana asked, to which Sakura nodded in reply. "So does that mean I can go to Osamu's house next Friday?" Sakura blinked at her daughter. Who? What?

"No," Sasuke spoke immediately, frowning. "Nice, try."

"Mom's the one who grounded me though! You were the one who told her _not_ to ground me. Why are you stopping me?"

Ino started laughing and she could see Naruto grinning to himself widely from where he stood beside Hinata.

"Because it's not fair to your mother," he spoke, "don't take advantage of her memory-loss."

The twelve-year-old crossed her arms and let out a frustrated sigh. "Whatever."

"I grounded you?" Sakura asked, finding it fascinating that she had a child to ground.

"When _don't_ you ground me?" She grumbled. Sakura almost laughed; her daughter was a little bit of a brat.

"Sorry," she smiled apologetically, "although it feels weird apologizing for something my adult-self has done."

Hana looked over to her and raised an eyebrow. "Adult-self—? Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting your like, seventeen mentally. That's so weird. My mom has the mentality of a teenager right now."

"Well," Ino chimed in, "even though she doesn't have any of her memories from her adult life doesn't mean her brain _functions_ like that of a teenager. The brain behind that big ole' forehead of hers is fully matured, believe it or not."

Sakura shifted slightly, tightening her hold on Souta. It felt so weird to be talked about like this, but she supposed she had to get used to it. At least until her memories came back. And as her daughter and best friend spoke, her chest ached; she could only hope she'd remember everything soon.

Her life as a twenty-nine year old mother of two was shockingly incredible. Never would she have dreamed that she'd live in a large, beautiful house with two children and be married to Sasuke of all people. Sure she _had_ dreamed of something similar, but knowing that her dreams had come true and then _more_ , was so overwhelming.

Leaning down toward Souta, she inhaled his baby scent deeply and sighed happily, resting her cheek against his soft hair. This was her baby, her _son_. And as she watched Hana smile and talk with everyone, she couldn't hold back the smile on her face. Her daughter was just as perfect as she'd ever imagined.

When her eyes flickered up to Sasuke's face, she found him already staring back at her, watching her carefully with gentle, almost-worried eyes. The care she could clearly see reflected in his dark eyes easily woke up the sleeping butterflies in her stomach. She was certain that she was blushing brightly when she averted her gaze.

When, out of the corner of her eye, she watched Hinata lean over and plant a kiss on Naruto's cheek before mumbling something and turning to walk out of the room, she lifted her head. "Hinata?"

The woman—and woman now, she certainly was—turned her head and gazed back at Sakura, as if shocked her presence had been noticed. "Yes?"

"Where are you going?"

Hinata smiled softly, "I'm going to go pick up Kenji and Seiji—my sons, I mean—from the compound. They've been there all morning."

"Oh," Sakura wouldn't lie and say she wasn't disappointed. She had been hoping to catch up with as many people as possible, Hinata included. Well, Hinata _especially_ , now that Sakura knew the girl had married Naruto. She just had to know how that happened. Come to think of it, she wanted to know how Ino and Sai had gotten together, too…

"It's alright," Hinata said softly, "if I don't see you later I'll definitely see you tomorrow."

"I get it, I'm just really excited to talk to everyone," she wiggled in her seat, "but it's okay."

And with another smile and a small wave, Hinata exited. "Remember Sakura," Naruto spoke up, redirecting her attention, "you can only see a few people at a time," he reminded her. "We don't want to overwhelm you."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. But I get to choose who I see next, got it?"

"Deal," Ino said, standing up. "I'm going to head out, too. I actually am supposed to still be at the hospital, but I'll stop by later today after my shift."

"Oh, okay." Sakura's overall excitement was slowly diminishing as more and more of her friends left, but she tried to shake it off, telling herself that she'd see them all and get to talk to them all in no time.

And when it was just Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto and the kids, Sakura inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Alright, so are you guys going to tell me more things while I'm here?" She directed the question toward the two men, watching skeptically as they exchanged glances.

"Hana," Sasuke spoke, "can you take Souta upstairs for a little while and keep an eye on him?"

"Already?" Hana whined. "I wanna see what else Mom forgot!"

"Wait, why can't they stay?" Sakura asked, holding her son a little closer. She didn't want to let him go yet; honestly she _never_ wanted to let him go. "Also, where on Earth is Kakashi? I know for a fact I should've seen him by now. Unless he's on a mission, I suppose…"

It surprised Sakura when Hana suddenly stood and faced Sakura, her arms outstretched toward Souta as if waiting for Sakura to hand him off. What on Earth had just happened?

"Souta," Sasuke spoke, "go play with Hana for a little while."

The boy pouted, his thumb falling from his mouth. "No, Mama. Play _Mama_."

"Mama will play with you later, buddy," Hana spoke quietly, leaning down and picking up the child off of Sakura's lap, despite neither party wanting to part from the other. "Let's go."

Her demeanor had changed completely. Just seconds ago she was bubbly and chatty and full of stubbornness and spunk, and now she was quiet and subdued, even refusing to make eye contact with her as she left the room with the baby.

"What happened?" Sakura asked uneasily, turning back toward the two of them. "Why did she just get so upset?" Again, she watched as they stared at one another for a long moment.

She was waiting for Naruto to say something when Sasuke surprised her by speaking.

"It's been a long time since… you last remember anything," he spoke slowly as if trying to choose his words as carefully as possible, "and a lot of things have changed. The Akatsuki were disbanded, there was a war fought, and there's an alliance between the Five Great Nations now."

Sakura's eyes widened. "A war? Wait, are you serious?"

"Some people died during that war, Sakura-chan." Naruto spoke solemnly. "People you know."

Sakura suddenly felt her blood run cold and the breath run out of her lungs. No, she wanted to say. _No_.

"We weren't originally going to tell you," Naruto spoke, rubbing the back of his neck uneasily, "since we figured you'd just get your memory back and we wouldn't have to make you suffer through finding out again but…"

"It's best that you know now." Sasuke turned completely toward her, his expression stern.

"Who?" She rasped, "just tell me now. Get it over with. Who?"

"Neji and Gai both died during the war."

The news struck her like a punch in the gut. There was a war and they'd fought and half of team 10 were now dead. _Dead_. Lifting a hand she placed it over her mouth to hold in the mortified gasp. Lee and Tenten were all that was left of their squad. Poor Hinata. Poor _Kakashi_.

"Anyone else?"

"There were a lot of casualties during the war," Naruto spoke, but that was everyone that we personally knew from Konoha. "Everyone else made it out relatively unscathed for the most part."

 _Not emotionally_ , she thought to herself bitterly.

"But… but why was there a war? Who were we fighting? You said there's an alliance now, so did that form after the war?"

"The war is another very complicated topic," Naruto spoke quickly, dismissively almost, "we'll definitely tell you more about it, but all you need to know is that we weren't fighting against another country. We were fighting the remaining Akatsuki—well, all two of them—and then some reincarnated people." She knew he was leaving a lot out but she didn't press the topic. "The alliance was formed beforehand and all of the Great Nations fought together during it."

"I fought, too?"

"Sort of," he scratched his head, running his hands through his short blonde hair. "Since you were with the medics you didn't really catch up to Sasuke and I. I think by the time you started heading toward the front lines we'd already taken care of things."

Sakura blinked, wiping away a stray tear, still reeling at the fact that Neji and Gai-sensei were dead. "Damn. But, you two defeated them? Like, fighting on the same side? Together?" Naruto nodded. "When was this war exactly?"

"Only a few months after the Land of Iron incident." Sasuke spoke gruffly. Sakura immediately noticed his choice of words, and after her final memory flashed through her mind her entire body stiffened. 'Incident' was a strange word to use to describe a day filled with pain and attempts on each other's lives.

"That soon?" Sakura suddenly felt nervous with the words she was about to speak. "Then how did… what caused us to…"

"How did I become involved in it?" Sasuke spoke up, "I joined the alliance at the last minute."

"And it saved his goddamn life," Naruto smirked dryly. "Teme's lucky they didn't execute him on the spot when he walked on camp."

Beside her, Sasuke crossed his arms, effectively ignoring Naruto's jabs.

"Everyone else is okay though, right?" Sakura spoke softly, one hand gripping the front of her shirt tightly, as if to ease the pain in her heart. "It was only… it was only Gai-sensei and Neji, right?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded sadly.

Sakura wanted to know how. She badly wanted to know how their final moments had been. Had they died quickly? Or had their deaths been slow and painful…

But she knew that it was a question she couldn't ask now.

"Who else?" She asked quietly, folding her hands in her lap and staring at the coffee table in front of her. "Who else has died since I've… since we were teenagers?"

Again, they exchanged another look.

And again, Sasuke was the one who spoke first.

"Only two people." She held her breath, squeezing her hands together tightly. She was scared. She was so awfully scared.

"Who?" She whispered, tears already stinging her eyes, "just tell me."

"First was Kakashi, and then a year later your mother.

She gasped, immediately burying her head in her hands and pulling her legs up to her chest. The sob that escaped her was loud and anguished. "No," she cried, shaking her head, "no, they—they can't be dead."

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Naruto spoke quietly.

"How?" She demanded immediately, glaring at the two of them with frustrated, tear-filled eyes. She knew she shouldn't be angry with them—the deaths of her mother and Kakashi had nothing to do with them—but she simply didn't know who to take her fury out on. "How did they die?"

"Your mother died about three years ago," Naruto spoke, "it was a heart attack. She died in her sleep and didn't feel a thing."

She nodded, swiping at the tears that fell steadily down her cheeks. "Good," she cried, nodding to herself, "good."

Her relationship with her mother had always been strained, but that had only been because they'd been so damn _alike_. So of course they butted heads all the time. She could only hope that they'd been on good terms with her at the end of the woman's life, but she didn't care to find out in case she learned something she didn't want to.

"How's my dad?"

"He's fine," Sasuke spoke reassuringly. "He stops by every couple of weeks for dinner. Sometimes he'll watch the kids for a weekend. He's doing alright."

"Okay," she sniffled, pressing her forehead against her knees. "Kakashi." She mumbled quietly. "What happened to Kakashi?"

Sasuke spoke again. "A few years ago there was a man who was after Hana; her sharingan, actually. He hired a lot of people to go after her and a lot of villagers died. There was… a lot that happened, but he was killed by the man when he attempted to hurt you and Hana."

"He died protecting us?" Sakura lifted her head to look at her husband, only to see him nod in confirmation. "Please tell me that man is dead," she demanded, angry tears streaming down her face, "tell me that monster is dead."

"He's dead," Sasuke spoke, and when he reached out and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly, she was thankful. She didn't know when Naruto moved to her other side, but she was thankful when he also grabbed her other hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

As Naruto wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Sasuke ran a thumb gently over her fingers her composure shattered. Biting the inside of her cheek she whimpered softly, forehead pressed against her knees as the tears poured out.

"Kaa-san," she cried, biting back her sobs. She was trying so hard to be quiet in her grief; the last thing she wanted was for her children to hear her wailing. But the pain was so fresh and her chest ached so cleanly that all she wanted to do was cry out. "Kaka-sensei."

And for the first time since she'd woken up in this timeline, she decided she didn't want to know anymore. Instead, she decided that she wanted to simply wait for her memories to come back. Even if it meant sacrificing learning about the good things, she'd do so to avoid learning of the bad.

The pain of death was too much for her, and as she told both of the men on either side of her that she didn't want to know anymore, she couldn't help but think how weak she must've seemed to them.

Byakugou seal or not.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days passed quickly. And despite the lack of different things she found herself doing (or, _not_ doing), she felt herself growing exhausted by the time the sun set each day.

Being a mother was exhausting, and Sakura hadn't been expecting it. Souta slept soundly through the night but once the sun was up, so was he.

On the first day when she awoke to him climbing into bed with her—pulling the blanket off of her in his attempt to crawl up onto the bed—she almost screamed. She wasn't used to being awoken by small giggling creatures, and if she hadn't immediately recognized his messy dark pink hair, she would've probably kicked him off the side of the bed.

Sasuke seemed to realize this and when she'd sat up and helped the toddler onto the bed with her, he was standing in the doorway, watching her cautiously. Sakura had swallowed thickly, still uneasy about being under his gaze for any long period of time, and forced a smile at him. He hadn't smiled back, and instead turned around and walked down the hallway and out of sight.

The sleeping arrangements had never been discussed, but Sasuke had been giving her space, instead choosing to sleep in one of the many spare bedrooms while she grew accustomed to her new life. And despite being grateful for the space she couldn't help but feel as if something was missing when she laid down to sleep each night in a bed that was far too big for just one person.

The third morning she awoke she was stunned to find Hana standing in the doorway.

"Mom," she called again a little louder, seemingly pleased as Sakura sat up, blinking away sleep. "It's so weird waking up before you," she girl smirked before muttering softly. "You have a visitor."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, a twinge of anxiety pulsing through her. She hadn't seen any new faces since she'd learned about Kakashi and her mother—well, she hadn't seen any new _old_ faces—and she had thought that it had been agreed that she wouldn't talk to anyone else until she was ready. So as she stood, thanked Hana, and began to dress herself she couldn't control her nerves.

When she finally emerged from her room, Hana was still standing in the hallways waiting. After looking Sakura up and down, the girl let out a light laugh. "Calm down. It's just Grandpa."

Perhaps a bit too eagerly, Sakura raced down the stairs, flying around the corner, down the hall, and into the kitchen.

And at the sight of Sasuke and her father sitting at the table, talking over mugs of dark coffee, she paused. The reminder that this was her life now still sending her reeling at times. She _still_ wasn't used to seeing Sasuke so calm and domesticated. When he'd made waffles for breakfast the first morning she'd been in the house, she'd started laughing uncontrollably at the sight.

She'd of course apologized afterward, but had chosen to keep the reason for her ridiculous reaction a secret. Maybe she'd tell him eventually, but not until she was more comfortable around him.

"Ah, there you are," her father turned to her, grinning as she approached, "I was wondering when I'd see you."

"Dad," gasped at the sight of him, "you're so old." Hana snickered behind her before Sakura realized how rude her words were. "Ah, I'm sorry, it's just—"

He waved a hand in the air and laughed, "Yeah I know all about you and your memory issues. Go a little easy on me though, okay? Sheesh." He stood up and shuffled over to her, opening his arms wide and inviting her in for a hug. "How've you been?"

She returned the hug without hesitation, taking a moment to enjoy the familiar embrace of her father. But as she opened her mouth to reply her thoughts immediately went to her mother, and she found herself coughing to cover up the sound of the sob that almost slipped out.

Thankfully, her dad had always been good at picking up on her emotional state—"you're as easy to read as your mother, kid" he'd told her sometime in the months before she'd blacked out and woken up thirteen years later—and quickly he held her closely, whispering reassuring words to her.

Eventually she was able to collect herself and was lead to the table. Sniffling back her tears and wiping at her face she looked around, quickly noticing Hana's absence.

"She has a mission early," Sasuke told her, walking into her line of sight. "And Souta…" with a gesture behind her she turned and followed his line of sight. When she turned and saw the small boy fast asleep in his high chair she let out a soft laugh, the sight lifting her spirits a bit.

"Why's he so tired?"

"He was up in the middle of the night," Sasuke spoke, walking over to the toddler and lifting him out of the chair, holding him against his chest gently, "he didn't get much sleep."

Despite her chest fluttering at the sight of Sasuke cradling their son so carefully, Sakura still frowned, "Oh. I didn't hear him."

"It's alright, I had him," he assured her, turning toward her. Her frown must've been more noticeable than she thought because when he offered her a slight smile and turned to leave the room, he spoke again. "You're still getting used to all this, don't worry."

"Yeah, but—"

"If you want to stay up all night with him next time, I'll let you," he spoke over his shoulder, a hint of amusement in his tone. "I'll be right back."

When her father laughed at Sasuke's words, Sakura turned toward him, redirecting her frown his way. "What?"

"It's so clear you're not yourself," he spoke, smiling. He truly did look so much older. Sakura remembered him having maybe one or two gray hairs, now they were laced throughout his entire head. The laugh lines around his mouth and eyes were much more pronounced and she could even hear the proof of his aging in his voice.

"Why do you say that?"

He let out another quick laugh. "Well, for starters, you look so uncomfortable. I don't know anyone who could look this uncomfortable in their own home. Typically you're dead on your feet until you have a cup of coffee in you."

She pouted slightly, blushing at his words. She'd started drinking coffee when she began working under Tsunade, and she soon found herself running off the stuff on some of her busier days. The news was comforting though. To know that even one small part of her hadn't changed in over a decade made her feel a little saner.

"So what do you think?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and picking his mug back up. "Surprised?"

"Of course I am," she blurted out, biting her lip and glancing over toward the doorway. When she found that Sasuke was still gone she leaned forward a little bit, "I'm married and have kids," she spoke quietly, " _Two_ kids! And I have a big house and a huge yard and look!" Pointing to her forehead with one hand, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes with the other, "I have the byakugou seal now. Of course I'm surprised. I don't know how else to be!"

"Are you happy with what you've seen?" He asked genuinely.

She paused at that, snapping her mouth shut and frowning. Her mother was dead, her sensei had been murdered, and the boy who tried murdering her over twelve years ago was now her husband. But she had two absolutely beautiful, wonderful children who, despite not knowing them entirely, she could already tell she had a deep-seeded, whole-hearted love for.

"I'm not unhappy." She confessed, her words chosen carefully.

With a satisfied noise, Kizashi finished his coffee and placed his mug down firmly on the table before him. "Good."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Good?"

"That's a good start." Reaching over, he patted her knee a couple of times before standing. "Guess I'll be leaving then." Lifting his arms high up, stretching, he turned and began walking. "I'll see you later, kiddo."

It took Sakura a couple of seconds to react but when she did she stood and immediately followed her father. "Wait, so soon?" When he stopped and looked over at her, an eyebrow raised, she found herself fumbling for words. "Why are you leaving already?"

"I'm actually not supposed to be here," he grinned sheepishly at her, shrugging slightly. "They don't want me telling you anything else—Ino and Naruto. Although I told them a dozen times that I wasn't going to say anything." He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Sasuke snuck me in though," he grinned once more, "and I know you're in good hands so it's not like you need me to stick around."

 _I do though_ , Sakura wanted to tell him. _I do need you_. She wanted to run up and hug him again and indulge in the comfort of her father's embrace. She wanted to be sixteen again and not entirely independent of her parents.

But as she waved goodbye and watched as her father retreated, she said nothing, instead choosing to stand her ground and simply wait for him to leave.

She was contemplating her next move when a sudden presence behind her almost caused her to jump out of her skin.

"He left already?"

Swallowing the scream that almost escaped, Sakura turned slightly to peek over her shoulder. Sasuke was still giving her some space, but he was far too good at sneaking up on her. She knew she had to start being more self-aware. If not, she might accidentally strike him one of these days.

"Yeah, something about you sneaking him in?" The idea was incredibly humorous to her so when she shot him a wry smile, it was wholly genuine.

He half-shrugged before turning and walking back into the kitchen. "Those two are acting ridiculous. It's your father, he just wanted to see you." Picking up Kizashi's empty mug he deposited it in the sink, "He deserves at least that much." And as he leaned back against the counter Sakura found herself thinking about how strange it was, how well fatherhood seemed to suit Sasuke. He seemed so tame, so purely gentle. The thought caused emotion to tug at her chest.

And when he looked at her then, it suddenly struck her: this was the first time the two of them had been alone since she'd gotten home. Usually one of their children—typically Souta—was around to diffuse any tension and to provide Sakura with something else to focus on. Something other than her husband.

"Souta's asleep in bed. He'll probably be out for another couple of hours before he's back to normal." Sasuke spoke, pulling her attention back onto him. "Do you want a cup of coffee?"

Sakura almost turned him down—almost. But as she took one look at the strange-looking coffee maker that sat on the counter beside the sink, she hesitated. One thing that was taking time to get used to was the new features on just about every appliance in the house. She'd tried using a hair-dryer the other day but couldn't find out how to turn it on. Thankfully when she'd walked downstairs, hair still a wet mess, Hana had laughed and walked her back upstairs to show her how it worked.

"Yes, but…" she had no idea how to tell him that she didn't remember how the coffee maker operated, but he didn't give her time to finish talking before he'd turned around had begun to pour fresh water into the contraption. "I-you don't have to do that…"

"It's nothing," he said dismissively, and when the fresh aroma of coffee began to once more fill the room, she ceased all of her opposition. "I've got it." He peeked at her as she stood there awkwardly, and his eyes on her only caused her to feel more uncomfortable. "You can sit down," he gestured toward the table.

Sakura moved slowly before eventually sitting herself down where she'd been sitting only minutes before. "It's just that I typically drink two cups every morning and I—"

"Don't worry. I know already." She must've looked as surprised since he gave her a small smirk. "First cup with one cream and one sugar; it's as strong as you can take it and you like it that way because it wakes you up. Second one with so much cream and sugar you can't tell its coffee anymore." He paused momentarily as he worked. "At least that's how you've taken it since I came back."

"I still drink it like that?" She was just as surprised at the fact she still took her coffee the same way after all these years as she was at the fact that he _knew_ this. Not only knew it, but knew it and was the one that prepared it on a regular basis.

When he approached her, handing Sakura her cup, he had a slight smile on his face. It wasn't one to mock or tease her though, instead it was an affectionate one. "You're a creature of habit."

"I guess I am," and when she brought the hot liquid to her lips and took a small, tentative sip, her eyes almost rolled into the back of her head. " _Oh_ ," she gasped, "that's so much better than how I make it. Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

And then, silence.

It wasn't awkward in the simple way that a lapse of something to talk about with a stranger or new acquaintance would be. Instead it was a painful, heavy type of silence. A silence that carried over ten years of lost memories.

Years ago, as a naïve child, Sakura may have thought that ending up in a situation like this would've been a dream come true. Now that she was living in this confusing, never-ending, day dream-esque situation, she knew it was only endlessly tiring.

What she wouldn't do to have her memories back...

"I hate not knowing." She blurted out after a few minutes. Sasuke, who had busied himself with reading something on the table in front of him, looked up at her with a readied look of patience on his face.

"I can tell you things," he reminded her, "you're the one who wanted to try and wait it out."

"Yeah well it's frustrating and my memories are still gone and they haven't come back yet and—and I'm sick of waiting!"

Sasuke sat up a little straighter, giving her his full attention now. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

Sakura looked him in the eye briefly, even though simply doing that was still a bit difficult to do. The fact that he now looked _at_ her and not _through_ her—like her last memory of him—helped immensely.

With his patient eyes on her, she held her breath, took a long sip of her coffee, ignoring the sting of the almost too-hot liquid, and bit her tongue.

"What exactly happened that day back in Iron Country?"

If he was hesitant about talking to her about that day, it didn't show. "You tracked me down; you were going to poison me. I tried attacking you and Kakashi showed up. I fought Kakashi, you healed Karin, then you tried attacking me again. I grabbed you, tried attacking again, and Naruto showed up. Fought a little more, then I left." He paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction perhaps. "Naruto and Kakashi can fill you in on what happened after that, because I don't know."

Sakura was so stunned. "You say it all so simply. As if we didn't try to kill each other."

"It was thirteen years ago, Sakura. I know you don't remember but we've already talked about it countless times."

Biting the inside of her cheek, Sakura frowned. "Sorry, it's just—it's weird. No, not weird. It's just—"

"Scary?" He leaned back in his chair slightly. "And don't apologize. You can't help it."

"Yeah," she breathed, "it is kind of scary."

"That's okay."

"It doesn't feel okay. I mean, we're married right?" She could feel her cheeks burn but she pushed her embarrassment aside. "I shouldn't be scared of you." Pulling her knees up to her chest she pressed her palms against her eyes. She let out a laugh, "I'm such a mess."

"Yeah," he agreed, "a bit."

At his agreement she dropped her hands and gaped at him. Sasuke simply stared at her for a long moment before saying, "Sorry. Bad joke."

When Sakura started laughing, she didn't know when she'd stop. The side of Sasuke was just so foreign to her, and if she were being honest with herself she was loving it.

Eventually when she caught her breath, wiping tears from her face and holding back another round of giggles, she looked at him. "So, good joke?" He asked, his expression softening at the sight of her laughter.

"You're funny," she spoke between giggles, one arm wrapping around her midsection while she combated her laughter, "how did I not know you were funny? I mean, I know you didn't make jokes or anything when we were younger, but you've got this… dry humor that just _works_ and like… you're actually _funny_."

"No I'm not," he rolled his eyes, and even _that_ made Sakura laugh again. Standing up, he walked over toward the coffee maker and began making another cup.

"I'm serious!" Jumping up out of her chair, she followed him, still giggling. "Whatever. _I_ think you're funny."

"Thanks," he spoke, not a hint of genuine thanks in his voice. Sakura only laughed again. When he frowned though, opening up cupboards and closing them, she stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Out of sugar. I guess I have to go shopping today." Stirring the coffee, he handed it over to her. "Here. Not as sweet as you like it, but still pretty sweet."

"Thanks," blinking down at the mug, she shuffled on her feet slightly, "Can I come? Shopping, I mean."

He nodded but didn't look at her as he cleaned up. "I think that's okay," he muttered quietly, then louder, "sure. After Souta wakes up we can go." Brushing his hands off on his pants he turned toward her, "I'm going to shower before we leave though."

Almost in slow-motion, Sakura watched as he leaned forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder before kissing her affectionately on the forehead.

But as soon as he pulled back, Sakura could tell that he'd realized his mistake.

"Shit," he ran a hand over his face, closing his eyes tightly, "I'm sorry about that, it's—habit." He explained, visibly frustrated with himself. "I'll just…" And turning around swiftly, he strode out of the room, leaving Sakura behind, hot coffee in her hands and eyes as wide as saucers.

Several seconds later, when she could faintly hear the sound of the shower running, she lifted a hand and pressed warmed fingers against the place his lips had just abandoned. Butterflies were fluttering against her ribcage and a light, warm feeling was coursing through her veins.

Sasuke had kissed her. It had been an accident, of course. Just a simple slip-up, and he'd apologized as quickly as it had happened. But he'd kissed her right on her seal, and Sakura felt as if she were floating.

So she couldn't quite help herself when she quite literally ran up the stairs to dress herself and get ready for their trip to the market.

* * *

The week went by so quickly that Sakura found herself shocked when she learned it was already Friday again. Her days had been full of Souta, Hana, and Sasuke, and despite it being rather exhausting to be a mother, Sakura found herself loving it more and more with each passing day. This life may have been thrown at her, but she had begun embracing it fully, and she could now easily say that she was happy with things.

Her schedule kept her busy, the routine she adapted to grounded her, and this family of hers made her smile constantly.

Sasuke hadn't kissed her again since the incident in the kitchen, and despite knowing that he was simply being cautious, every time they parted ways she found herself praying for another slip-up. Despite the lack of accidental blatant affection, he was starting to slip up in more subtle ways. Sakura would find his hand on the small of her back quite often; he would retract his arm and pretend not to notice his mistake when she'd look at him. And the other night while she'd been changing Souta's diaper, her hair had fallen into her face and Sasuke had swept it over her shoulder, even re-pinning her bangs back in place while she tried hard to keep the focus on the scrambling toddler before her.

At first, the accidental touches had been enough for her, but her craving for more direct contact with him was starting to overwhelm her a bit.

But the increasing tension she was beginning to feel was put on hold when her twelve-year-old daughter started throwing a fit that afternoon.

"I just don't understand why I can't go tonight!" Hana exclaimed, going as far as to stomp her foot as she spoke (yelled) at her father. Sakura sat on the floor in the next room, Souta showing her his different stuffed animals, while the two dark-haired Uchiha argued.

"You know why," Sasuke replied, his voice much quieter than hers, "we've already talked about it."

"But I _apologized_!"

"Which you're _supposed_ to do when you do something wrong—"

"It doesn't make sense though for _her_ to ground me for something I said to you."

"We're your parents, that's just how it works."

Sakura quickly found herself struggling to listen to the conversation. It seemed to her that Sasuke was keeping his voice down on purpose, and as they talked Hana's voice was getting slightly quieter.

"She was being so unreasonable and you _know_ it though!"

There was a pause, and Sakura could hear the faint sound of Sasuke sighing. "Listen," his voice was just barely above a whisper. Clearly he was intending on only speaking loudly enough for Hana to hear him, but her hearing had always been sharp, and she could still hear him distinctly, "I can't tell you right now, but that's because," he paused, hesitated, "there's something you don't know."

Sakura felt her throat growing thick. Sure, there was plenty she didn't know due to her memory-loss, but something told her that this, what Sasuke was talking about, was something entirely different.

"About Mom?" Hana finally lowered her voice to match his, and now Sakura was really struggling to hear their words. "What? About her brain?"

"No, not—"

"MAMA!"

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when Souta yelled, and when she turned her head to see him pouting at her, her expression softened. "Sorry baby," she spoke affectionately, smiling, "Mama didn't mean to ignore you. Don't yell like that though."

He smiled a bright smile up at her before handing her a purple dog and turning around, babbling to himself and to the blue dog he held in his hands.

Sakura attempted to listen further, but Souta's outburst must've gotten their attention, too, because now all she heard was silence.

Several minutes later when Hana walked back into the room, frown etched deeply into her features, Sakura felt the urge to ask what was wrong, but when she realized today's date, she suddenly remembered.

"Is this the night your friend is having that party?"

Hana plopped down on the floor right next to Sakura and let out a deep sigh. "Yeah. It's not a party though, it's a movie night with my friends. Osamu has them on the last Friday of every month. And it was supposed to be my turn to pick the movies." Her frown deepened as she spoke.

"Osamu… that's Kurenai's son, right?" Hana nodded. "Wow. The last time I saw her, she was so pregnant she was ready to pop."

"I like Kurenai-san," Hana commented, still pouting. "She's nice. And really funny."

"Is she?" Sakura mused, watching her son play. "I guess I didn't get to know her until I got older. I don't ever remember having more than a handful of conversations with her."

A smirk fought its way onto Hana's face. "You guys are really good friends now. Osamu has been my best friend since I was a baby. Well, he was my only friend until I got to school. Now there's Izumi and Hikaru and Taichi and Aito. And there's my teammates and Osamu's too."

"That's good," Sakura smiled. To hear that her daughter had such close friends made her feel warm, her thoughts going to her own friends. Then, another thought struck her.

"Why did I ground you?"

"I got in a fight with Dad. Uh, not quite a fight I guess. Dad's pretty passive. I just said some pretty mean things. That's why you grounded me."

"Oh," Sakura looked over at her daughter, and she found herself once more struck by the physical similarities between her and Sasuke. "You must've said some bad stuff, huh?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, picking at a stray string on her sock.

"Sorry," Sakura said, "about the whole 'grounding you' thing, I mean. You seem pretty upset about it all."

"It's whatever," she said, still focused on her sock, "I guess I'll skip my turn tonight and just wait until next month."

Over the next several minutes, Sakura sat back and watched as Souta got Hana to start participate in whatever little game he was currently playing.

Sakura had never had any siblings of her own, and she knew that Sasuke's sibling experience had been less than ideal, but witnessing Hana play with Souta and seeing the love in the young girl's eyes for her brother made Sakura's chest warm.

"Hey," Sakura leaned over, speaking quietly, "I don't know if this will work or not, but I can try talking to Dad for you," she offered. Referring to Sasuke as 'Dad' and being referred to as 'Mom' was still something she was struggling to adapt to, but the feeling of weirdness was slowly going away.

Hana's dark eyes widened. "Are you serious?" And when Sakura nodded the girl squealed and wrapped her arms around Sakura's waist. "Oh, my god! Thank you thank you thank you!" Sakura was taken off guard but quickly returned the firm embrace. "I love you, Mom!"

And with that, she jumped up and skipped right out of the room. And just as she left, her voice rang through the house, " _Daaaad_! Hey, Dad! Mom wants to talk to you!"

Sakura winced at the shouting before bracing herself for Sasuke's inevitable approach. That hadn't been _quite_ how she'd been planning on talking to him about the situation. She'd been hoping to maybe catch him doing something else before slipping the subject into conversation carefully.

So much for subtlety.

When Sasuke appeared in the doorway, eyebrow raised, Sakura cursed under her breath.

"Typically you're the one scolding me for swearing in front of him," Sasuke spoke, walking into the room, gesturing to Souta, playing innocently before them. "What do you need?"

"It's—I wanted to talk to you about Hana."

"She didn't ask you to talk to me about her being grounded, did she?"

"I—what? No. I'm actually the one that wanted to talk to you about it. I—well, I _told_ her I would, but that's just because she seemed so upset." Sakura paused, took a deep breath. "What I'm _trying_ to say, is that she didn't put me up to this."

Sasuke gave her a skeptical look but still sat down on the couch behind her and said nothing to doubt her claims. "Okay. So what? Are you going to tell me to un-ground her?"

"Maybe not completely," she spoke, biting her lip. "I don't know. I've only been doing this whole parenting thing for like, two weeks now. I still don't know how it works. But like, maybe letting her go for a little while, or just for one movie, instead of letting her go for the whole thing." Sakura paused, thinking. "What time does it typically end?"

"They usually spend the night, but…"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "But what?"

"Recently we've been making her come home when the movies are done. So around two AM."

"She's only twelve," Sakura said, shocked. "Wouldn't it be better for her to stay there?"

Sasuke frowned, not saying anything else. It was apparent, in the way he crossed his arms over his chest, that they'd had this very conversation already. Perhaps not too long ago.

"Is this because he's a boy?" she asked, eyes narrowed as she gauged Sasuke's reaction. When her husband snorted and his frown deepened, Sakura almost laughed. "Wait, does she like him?"

"It's like you always tell me, 'they're best friends'. But I know for a fact that kid is in love with her."

"Wait, really?" Sakura lowered her voice a little, in case their daughter was attempting to eavesdrop; but with a quick check, Sakura couldn't sense her anywhere within earshot. Scooting herself backward and sitting up on the couch beside him, she gave him a strange look. "How do you know that?"

Sasuke pouted slightly. "I just know."

"So, what? Is this her secret boyfriend, or whatever?"

"No," Sasuke shifted slightly, as if uncomfortable with the conversation. "At least, he better not be."

"Is he a bad kid?"

"No."

"Is he mean to her?"

"No."

"Is he a bad influence?"

"No."

"I don't understand the problem." Sakura stared at him, attempting to figure him out for a full minute before a spark of realization hit her. "You're joking."

He seemed visibly irritated, "What?"

Sakura laughed, "Please don't tell me you're the type of over-protective dad that refuses to let his daughter do anything."

"It's not like that," he spoke quietly, looking away. Souta approached them, drawing both of their attention away from the conversation. He babbled a bit about his 'doggie', before taking the stuffed animal Sakura held out of her hands and giving it to his father. Sasuke smiled and thanked the boy quietly, and Souta—content at the reply—turned back around and went back to playing with his toys.

"I don't want her getting hurt."

"Oh," Sakura spoke dumbly, " _oh_." As his reasoning dawned on her, she wanted to kick herself for her thoughtless reply.

"She's so much like you Sakura," he turned and looked at her seriously, "I don't want her getting hurt like you did."

Although his statement was incomplete Sakura knew precisely what he meant.

' _I don't want him hurting her the way I hurt you._ '

"Even still," she spoke up after a long silence, "maybe have a little bit of faith in her?" She tried not to look too hesitant when she reached over and grabbed his hand within hers, squeezing it reassuringly. Sasuke didn't turn to look at her, instead he simply linked their fingers together (she couldn't help but wonder how many times they've held hands like this and how comfortable—how right—it felt) and let out a long sigh.

"I know." He spoke, turning toward her. "One movie. That's as far as I'm budging." He gave her a crooked grin, "At least one of us has to be consistent with this whole punishment thing."

At the sight of his smile, she could feel her heart begin to race, and when he squeezed her hand, she was sure her own smile was beginning to look downright goofy.

"Great," she breathed, standing up and dropping his hand, "I'll go tell her."

And as she flitted out of the room in search of their daughter, she couldn't help but laugh at Sasuke's words that called out to her.

"Make sure she knows this is your idea. I at least have to _pretend_ to be upset with her."

Laughing, she realized that at least one of her fears about her future—about this life she'd been surprised with—could be laid to rest: Sasuke was a good father.

* * *

 **A/N** : I uploaded this chapter two months ago on my Tumblr account and _swore_ that I'd uploaded it here. Apparently not. Sorry 'bout that.

I have some not-so-good news. Not _bad_ news, exactly, but I am putting this story on a temporary hiatus. y. I promise. I'm focusing more on SYS for the moment so most of the updates you will all see for now will be for that. Now that doesn't mean I won't update at all, but there will be no regular updates again until mid-spring. Again, I'm sorry, but my mental state is fucked and I can only really focus on one story in the meantime. Hope you'll all understand. See you all around April. Love ya.


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